Tone amplifier for stringed instruments



e. vmzr'. TONE AMPLIFIER FOR SIRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21?, 1920.

Patented Apr; 11, 1922-.

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' ATTORNEY T ial.

wmvcss G. VIRZI.

TONE AMPLIFIER FOR smmcao INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FlLED OCT. 21

Patented-Apr. 11, 1922.

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erusnrrn .vr'nzr, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

" TONE AMPLIFIER non srninenn INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

Application .filed, October 21, 1920. Serial No. 418,414.

T all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, Giusnrrn VIRZI, asubject of the King of Italy, but having declared my intention ofbecoming a citizen of the United States, and residing at 341 East IEZithStreet, New York city, in the county of New Yorkand State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 7 Tone Amplifiersfor Stringed Instruments,.ofwhich the following is a specification.

T-his invention relates to musical instruments and has stringed.instruments such as violins, guitars, cellos, and the like.

Among the objects of, the invention is to provide simple and ellicientmeans carried 011 or within the body of a musical instru-y ment wherebythe tones generated by the strings ,will be modified in timbre orquality and amplified in volumewith respect to tones produced by similarinstruments heretofore,

and whereby myimproved instruments are capable of producing sweeter,richer, and otherwise more pleasing results, than would bepossiblewithout my improvements.

WV-ith the foregoing and other objects in View the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed,-.and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose ofillustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to theaccom 32111 in drawin s in which like b b J reference charactersdesignate the same parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 isa vertical longitudinal section on the line ll of Fig. 2, indicating onepreferred form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. 1

Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1 but indicating a modifiedform of my improvement. I

Fig. 5 is another modified form.

Fig. 6 is asectional detail on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional detail, corresponding to a part of Fig.2, but showing a further modification.

Referring now more specifically to the first set of figures I show aconventional musical instrument in the nature of a violin materiah andthey particular reference to and comprising a body 10, bridge 11, tallpiece 12, strings 13, bass bar 14, and sounding post 15, all of whichare or may be-of conventional or well known construction.

(larried'by any suitable portion of the body 10 are a plurality. ofdevices in the nature of sounding boards, shown as associated with thebass bar 14 within the body. Any suitable number of .such soundingboards, one or more, maybe employed, and

obviously they may be made of anysuitable maybe attached to any su1tableparts of the instrument body. As shown inFigs. 1 and 8 the soundingboards 16 and 17, are attached firstto the bass bar and secondly to eachother and are spaced. not only from each other but also from all otherportions of the body. As shown-best inFigs. 1 and 3 the sounding board16is'attached tothe bass bar by means ofa plurality of studs 18. and 19,the stud 18 being located just. within or below the bridge 11, wlnle thestuds 19 are located adjacent to the ends of the bass-bar and spacedsomewhat farther from the ends of the sounding board be of any l6.Thesesound-ing boards may suitable formin, cross section and outline. Asindicatedflthey are of concavo-convex form in cross sectionandrelatively long-and slenderand with rounded outlines in plan.

l urthermorems much as possible of the edge or outline of each soundingboard is free or unattached with respect to all other parts of thestructure.

The next sounding board 17 is shown as being similar in structure to theone before it, and it is attached to the sounding board 16 by means ofstudslS and 19 arranged similarly to or in alignment with those studsattached to the bass.bar. The studs may be secured by any suitable meansto the parts intended to be supported thereby. For this purpose I haveused successfully glue for the ends of the studs in connection with adowel pin 20 extending through both sounding boards and both alignedstuds and projecting into the bass bar. This pin may be secured in placeby glue or any other suitable means. The stud adjacent to the bass barmay be bifurcated and so straddle the bass bar if desired. Similar dowelpins are shown passing through the studs.

In Fig. i I show the sounding boards 16 and 17 attached to the bass bar14: as described above, just beneath the bridge 11,

but the ends of the sounding boards are not attached to other portionsof the bass bar. I show at 21 a pair of posts attached to the front andrear portions of the back 22 of the body, these posts being attached notfar remote tlrom the ends of the sounding board 17 and in alignmentbetween the two sounding boards, and acting as spacers therefor the sameas correspondingly located studs in Fig. 1. Dowel .pins 20 may be usedto extend through each pair of aligned posts and studs, thereby makingmost secure these several attachment means.

As will be appreciated from Fig. t the sounding boards will beeffectively held in place for all practical purposes and yet they willhave sul'licient freedom of action to vibrate in harmony with the tonesgenerated in the strings and transmitted to the body through the bridge.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I show a slight variation in sounding boards 16 and 17and also in the means for supporting them. These souiuling boards areattached to each other and to the bridge portion of the bass bar 14: bystuds 18 and dowel pin 20 in the other forms described. The head andtail ends, however, of these sounding boards are anchored to the headand tail portions respectively oi the body by means of anchor pins 23and Each of these anchor pins has a forked end 25 embracing an end.portion of a sounding board to which it is glued, while the other end ofthe pin is proyected into a rigid portion of the body. It will be notedthat in this form of the invention each sounding board is straight orflat longitudinally at its ends, but curved transversely intermediate ofits ends.

The purpose of Fig. 7 is to indicate that the means for supportingeither of any number of sounding boards may be attached to anyconvenient or suitable relatively rigid parts of the instrument body. Inthis figure the sounding boards are shown as being supported aboutmidway between their end by means of laterally projecting anchor pins 26and 27 secured to the side portions of the instrument. Other fasteningmeans may be attached between the sounding boards and ther parts of theinstrument in order to make secure the support for the sounding boards.

I claim:

1. In a musical instrument including a hollow body, the combination of aplurality oi. sounding boards in addition to the body, means includingone or more studs extending between the sounding boards to hold them inspaced relation to one another, and means to secure the sounding boardsto the body.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which the instrument bodyincludes a bass l ar and the means for securing the sounding boards tothe body includes a stud extending between one of the sounding boardsand the bass bar, the sounding boards except for said stud being spaced.from the bass bar.

8. In a musical instrument including a hollow body having a bass bar,the combination ith said body of a plurality of sounding boards withinthe hollow body, and means to secure the sounding boards to the hollowbody, said securing means including studs fixed to the sounding boardsintermediate of their ends, the studs being in alignment with oneanother, and a dowel pin extending through the aligned studs and fixedat one end to said bass bar, and having connection with all. of thesounding boards.

GIUSEPPE VIRZI.

